Better
by Burning Underground
Summary: Sans has never seemed like the one up for competition, but is he actually in a competition with the captain of the Royal Guard everyday? Could she actually be better than him at his own game?


Sans was never up for much competitions; it never really seemed to be his thing. He would rather lounge about all day, sleeping, drinking ketchup, or making bad puns. Everybody knew that, but nobody knew that he was in a competition everyday with the captain of the royal guard.

Over how his brother thought of him...

Of course, it seemed silly, but Sans always wanted to be his little brother's role model. It wouldn't be that hard, if it hadn't been for Undyne. As soon as she entered the picture, it seemed as if all of Papyrus' attention went towards her and this whole royal guard business. Frankly, Sans hated the fish lady and how she acted around his brother, making her seem stronger than she really was. Sans thought of her more as a loud, crazy jerk than a heroine, but Papyrus and everyone else saw her differently.

Everyday, Papyrus would head out to Waterfall to train. Sometimes, he'd drag Sans along, in hopes that he'd train enough to protect himself with 1 HP. Of course, Pap didn't know how well he could already protect himself, but Sans never mentioned anything. He just sat there and aggravated Undyne to no end. His brother would scold him when they got back to Snowdin, which almost always fueled his anger and jealousy.

Undyne seemed to know that he disliked her, but she never showed it. She seemed to just take his brother away from him more, which made him try harder to get his brother to stay with him.

Today was one of those days where Undyne went to hang out with Alphys. That would've been great for Sans, if he and his brother hadn't been invited as well. Apparently, Alphys wanted Undyne and him to get along, her being able to sense the conflict whenever they were around each other. Of course, she didn't know why it was like that, but Sans had to give her credit for figuring it out so fast. He had been friends with Alphys for a long time for reasons nobody really knew. Undyne had been Alphys friend too, and Sans knew of her crush on her, though he didn't understand it.

"Y-You just need to get to know her." She said when he had asked her one time. "She's really n-not that bad."

Sans just scoffed at that statement and carried on with what he had been doing: sciency stuff.

Sans sighed as he approached the lab in Hotland, his brother by his side. He was definitely not looking forward to this. Heck, he wouldn't had even come if it hadn't been for his brother.

Alphys opened the door before the even knocked and invited them in. Sans growled quietly as his eyes laid on the 'heroine' sitting on the table. Undyne pretended not to notice as she ran up to greet his bro with a noogie.

"AH! DO NOT NOOGIE THE SKELETON!" Papyrus shouted in his normal voice as a laugh escaped.

Undyne just let out a hardy laugh as she let Papyrus go. Alphys looked to Sans and asked if she could talk alone for a second. Sans simply nodded and shot a glare towards Undyne before following Alphys to the other room.

"what is it alphys?" He asked before adding in one of his notorious puns, "you got a bone to pick with me?"

"S-Sans... This is serious..."

"i know, i know. i just thought i'd be a bit humerous."

"Sans..." Alphys sighed before continuing. "Pl-Please, just get to know her... Y-You might actually like her..."

Sans just rolled his eye sockets. "yeah, sure. as soon as aaron stops flexing."

"Sans!" Alphys called in frustration as the skeleton walked out to find his brother and Undyne talking about Papyrus' favorite food: spaghetti.

"MY BROTHER SAID THAT HE WOULD TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE THEM, BUT HE HASN'T SO FAR, AND I DON'T THINK HE EVER WILL." Papyrus said sadly, making Sans frowned. He did say that, didn't he?

"How about I teach ya!?" Undyne asked. "It's easy!"

"WOWIE! REALLY UNDYNE!?" Papyrus asked happily. When his friend nodded, he hugged her. "THANKS UNDYNE! YOU'RE THE COOLEST!"

Sans just stood there, frozen. What just happened? He felt his SOUL drop at those last words. Did Undyne just win their little battle?

After that day, Papyrus was gone even more. Sans knew he had finally lost, and he didn't know how to win him back. It seemed his bro was gone forever...

He decided to spend more time in his secret lab, looking over old pictures. Some he didn't even remember, but others he knew all to well. He always questioned why he had them, and who those people were, but he never found any answers. Most of the pictures had him in a lab coat with a tall skeleton that always gave him a skull ache when he attempted to remember him.

Many others where of him and his brother; they always made him smile. Pap was so young then, height not even close to his own. Back then, it was just the two of them. All Sans lived for was to make sure his brother was safe...

Days past and Sans still hadn't came out of his lab. He didn't really think he'd be missed.

After what he thought to be 1 and a half weeks, the door opened. Hadn't he locked it?

He squinted at the sudden bright light. A figure approached him, and he couldn't tell who. He quickly stood up, ready to defend himself if needed.

"What is this place...?" An all to familiar voice asked.

Sans groaned as his eyes adjusted to see Undyne. "what do you want, dirty brother stealer?"

"What?" Undyne looked confused for a moment before asking, "Have you really been here this whole time!? Alphys, Papyrus, and I have been searching everywhere!"

"not like it matters..." Sans mumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Alright, that's it!" Undyne growled out as she shut the door. "Why are you acting like this!?"

"why should i tell you?" Sans glared at her.

"What did I do to you!?"

"EVERYTHING!" Sans shouted, louder than anyone had ever heard him before as his eye sockets went pitch black. "MY BROTHER AND I WERE FINE BEFORE YOU SHOWED UP!"

Undyne looked at the small skeleton in shock as tears started to come out of his eye sockets.

"back then, it was just me and Pap..." Sans looked down at the pictures that were now on the floor. "i did everything in my power to protect him... i made sure that I always had enough power to protect him... he always wanted to grow up to be like me... and then you show up and just take him away from me... now all I am to him is a lazy bag of bones..."

Undyne stayed quiet as she looked down, finding many pictures of him and Papyrus. A silence was shared between them before she finally found the words she wanted to say. "Sans... I didn't know you felt that way..."

"of course you didn't..." Sans crossed his arms. "why don't you just leave? you've already proven to me that you're better..."

"Papyrus doesn't think I'm better than you!" Sans finally looked up to meet Undyne's gaze, the small white dots showing up again as his eyes. "He never shuts up about you! Heck, he's got the whole town of Snowdin looking for you!"

"what...?" Sans was suddenly aware of how long he really was in that small lab behind the house.

"You've got Papyrus worried sick over you!" Undyne continued. "He cares about you! You're his brother! Of course he thinks your cooler than anybody else!"

Sans stayed quiet as he ran past Undyne and into the cold Snowdin air. He could see many people searching around, but no sign of his brother. He turned back to Undyne as she walked out. "where is he?"

"He said something about going to search in the forest." Undyne answered. Sans quickly grabbed her arm and closed his eye sockets, sensing for his brother's magic. Finally, he found it and teleported to the source. Undyne let out a gasp of surprise as the foreign feeling surrounded her. Since when could Sans teleport!?

As soon as they reappeared, he let go of Undyne and looked around. He saw his brother trying to dodge a hostile monster and quickly went into action, grabbing the monsters SOUL with his powers and throwing them down before summoning bones to keep it trapped.

"pap-" Sans prepared his scolding, but was interrupted by his brother hugging him tightly.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE FOR GOOD, SANS!" Papyrus cried out as he hugged his brother tighter.

Sans felt shocked for a moment before returning the hug. "aw, come on bro. have a little faith in me."

Undyne watched the view from afar. She was still pretty shocked, not knowing that Sans had powers like that, but now didn't seem the time to ask questions. She just stood there with a smile on her face as the brothers hugged.

Everyone was silent as they walked back to the skelebros house. It wasn't awkward at all; it was actually pretty peaceful. Undyne and Sans were able to sort out all of their thoughts and Papyrus was able to bask in the relief that his big brother was okay.

The search party was called off, much to the people of Snowdin's relief. Papyrus offered for Undyne to stay for dinner, and she happily agreed.

Overall, the time was fun. Of course, the two 'master chiefs' almost burnt the house down a couple times, but Sans managed to put out the flames every time, saying puns along the way.

"well, i guess that dish went down in flames."

"SANS!"

"Haha! Nice one, punk!"

"UNDYNE! DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!"

"sorry, paps. i can't help it if someone finds my jokes tibia funny."

"SANS PLEASE!"

Yeah, it was a fun night.

When it came the time for Undyne to leave, Papyrus was already asleep in bed. Undyne watched Sans read Papyrus a bedtime story, and even she had to admit that it was a cute scene. After that, Sans followed Undyne down the stairs and to the door.

"uh... thanks for finding me..." Sans said.

Undyne turned around and nodded to the small skeleton.

"you know... you're alright, for a loud fish."

"Same to you, you lazy skeleton."

The two stood there for a second before Undyne awkwardly asked, "So... about today. Those powers... and that lab... I don't remember Papyrus ever saying anything about those..."

Sans broke into a deep chuckle. Undyne looked at the other, a bit confused. "wow, you must be really confused."

Undyne nodded as Sans stopped laughing. "well, let me tell you something: i'm not big into mysteries, but if you say anything about that lab, then you will have a bad time."

A shiver went down the captain's spine as Sans' eye sockets darkened with each word. His voice seemed to echo in her mind at those last words, adding to the effect.

"I won't tell."

"when i say that, i mean anyone. even alphys."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sans tilted his head. "i don't know. what do i mean by that?"

Frankly, Undyne has never felt this confused and scared in her life. "I don't know..."

"good." Sans' eye sockets brightened up again. "so, you not gonna tell?"

Undyne shook her head.

"good. have a good night." Sans said simply. "oh, and take good care of my bro, kay?"

"Yeah, of course." Undyne answered instantly. Then she blinked, and he was gone.

"What...?" Undyne's eyes surveyed the area, finding no traces of Sans. She sighed before walking outside in the cold winter night.

There was no competition anymore on who was better.

They both knew the answer to it, and they knew that Papyrus loved them both either way.

Oh, and Undyne was officially terrified of the small skeleton.


End file.
